Joe Maddon to Steve Bartman: Toss the negativity into Lake Michigan

Like nearly everyone in Chicago, Joe Maddon didn’t know that Steve Bartman had received a Cubs World Series ring until Monday afternoon.

“I’m very happy for him, happy for the Cubs and happy for Cub fandom,” Maddon said from the first tee at Bryn Mawr Country Club, host to his “Try Not to Suck Celebrity Golf Classic” on Monday.

“This guy suffered way too long for that particular moment. I understand 108 years; I get all of that. However to pin all that on one fellow, I always thought, was unfair.”

The Cubs manager told the Tribune that if he could sit down with Bartman, he would tell him: “Congratulations, I hope this makes you feel better. I hope this makes your life better. I hope you can put your past behind you now because we get one chance to live, one chance to do this whole thing.

"For him to carry around something that is artificially created like that, and that impacts his life in such a negative manner, is not right.

“Maybe now that he has the ring, he can discard that (negativity). Wrap that thought around some kind of a rock and then throw it into the lake and then move forward from there.”